


Call a Spade a Spade

by Capucine



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Cardverse, Celibacy, Complicated Relationships, Drama, F/M, Families of Choice, Family Issues, Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Love, M/M, Politics, Team as Family, Unrequited Love, Violence, court intrigue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-17 23:57:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5890120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capucine/pseuds/Capucine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yao (China) is the Jack of the Spades Kingdom. This comes with a whole host of issues.</p>
<p>Friendships end in a bitter fashion. Many people have ulterior motives. He can never be married. The safety and stability of the kingdom seems to rest heavily on his shoulders, given who the King is--a teenage boy who, at Yao's kindest, should not be left in charge of so much as a small butcher shop, much less a whole kingdom.</p>
<p>But the thing--or things--he doesn't regret: taking on other orphans as his proteges. Yong Soo and Dai Hyung (South and North Korea) are two children he comes to care a lot about, as well as Hong (Hong Kong).</p>
<p>He doesn't know what the future holds. But he'll do his best to stitch together the kingdom--and his makeshift family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Call a Spade a Spade

**Author's Note:**

> For my friend, who requested this story when I offered to write her a story! (Sorry for the long wait. I'm just awesome that way. DX)
> 
> Yao = China  
> Arthur = England  
> Alfred = America  
> Yong Soo = South Korea
> 
> Otgonbayar/Ot = Mongolia  
> Dai Hyung = North Korea (who was created by my friend)  
> Hong = Hong Kong (creative, I know ;P)
> 
> Roderich = Austria  
> Vash = Switzerland  
> Feliciano = Italy

Yao Wang was basically the most important man in the Spades Kingdom. Ordinarily, that would be the King--chosen by a Spade birthmark, like Yao and the Queen were.

But Alfred, the chosen King, hadn't so much as ascended the throne yet--and Yao had been Jack alone for a few years before Arthur, the Queen, had ascended. And in that time, he'd essentially stuck his fingers in many pies.

Certainly not out of a need to control. It wasn't megalomania that drove Yao--instead, it was seeing the poor upbringing of the future King, and the inefficiency of the council drawn up to rule in the interrim. 

He wanted what was best for his Kingdom--and at the moment, that was not letting bumbling fools run it.

Before he'd truly gained control of any kind, beyond the more militaristic and diplomatic duties of a Jack, though, he had trained in the martial arts. It was within the realm of what he needed to do as Jack--be good at fighting. Be disciplined. Understand combat.

And burn out all sexual urges.

Because a Jack was meant to never marry--and sexual contact outside of marriage had gradually become more and more grave over the course of their history, especially in regards to the Jack. They, the Jack, King, Queen, were supposed to execute a perfect model of living for their citizens--as husband, wife, and single.

So the current philosophy went.

It had gotten so extreme, partly due to multiple cases throughout the Kingdoms (Spades, Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds) that a Jack could be executed for having intercourse. Most of the four Jacks, as far as Yao was aware, didn't dare to push that boundary at all, with as fraught as Suit politics could be.

But they all found things to occupy them.

Feliciano was a painter and artist.

Vash was a military historian and weapons crafter on top of being a brilliant tactician.

Roderich baked and made other beautiful things, such as paper flowers and delicately painted tea sets. He was said to be the loneliest of them.

And Yao?

Apparently, he not only was a martial artist--he adopted orphans.

He hadn't intended it that way. He'd had some thought, at some point, that he should train the Queen's Guard himself, perhaps the King's as well--though he saw Arthur as more of a source of common sense and such, and he would much rather have Alfred replaced with a baby than Arthur, if he had a choice. He hoped he wouldn't have to make a horrible choice like that, though.

He might not like Alfred, but he didn't want him dead.

The first orphan he'd met, gotten to know, he definitely hadn't adopted.

His name was Otgonbayar, and he was a child--not unlike Yao. About four or so years younger. They got along--Ot had been sent by his regent to learn court behaviors and such at the capital's court. Yao hadn't ascended the throne yet, but his parents had become deceased, and so he was there too, in the early stages of his martial arts training. He was eleven; Otgonbayar was a gap-toothed seven year old.

His parents had been elderly--Ot's had died of a disease sweeping Ulaanbaatar, the province over which he was meant to rule. Under the Spade Suit's guidance, of course, but he would still have a good deal of power.

The boy had long hair, like him--like many in their part of Spades. Spades was a multiethnic kingdom, barely held together, and borders occasionally changing--Ulaanbaatar had been taken perhaps a hundred years ago by Spades, a fact not forgotten by the inhabitants.

But Ot seemed unaware of that tension. Instead, he seemed mostly aware of Yao, following him _everywhere_.

And Yao was baffled at first. Ot would hold the end of his braid in his hand, and just follow him. Eventually, he started talking too--pink tongue excitedly pressing up against the gap in his front teeth as he talked.

He was a smiling child, compared to some--Yao certainly didn't see a lot of smiling people at court, not in the genuine way that Otgonbayar did.

And then they were both learning martial arts together--their instructor, their teacher, would often praise Ot for picking it up so fast.

In retrospect, Yao would realize that Otgonbayar was pushing himself to catch up to him to impress him. But, of course, he was a child then too--and didn't have the powers of observation he'd had to develop later in his life.

The child was also very scatterbrained--he tended to disappear for lengths of time, only to reappear with sticks in his hair and mud on his clothes. He had difficulty learning to read, which he should have already known, and would quite often ask Yao to tell what the respective thing said.

Yao didn't like to admit it later on, but he'd grown attached. Otgonbayar actually liked him, and not because he was the future Jack. And so, they became sparring partners, and grew used to each other's company.

He'd read, and Ot would sit there practicing his flute.

He'd use the training dummy (a simple upright structure) and Ot would practice katas and the like in the open area.

He'd gush about a new weapon he'd discovered, a new technique, and Ot would listen in rapt attention--and then immediately go off on what would be a good counter to such a thing.

In short, Ot was Yao's friend when he had few genuine ones.

And that would come to have consequences.

When it had fitfully, violently broken off, Yao had closed off. He'd spent a good year trying to figure himself out, his place, what he was supposed to do--it was fairly world-shattering. And he wasn't sure if he was to blame or there was someone else to blame--Otgonbayar, society, anyone.

And that was when he supposed he'd become cold.

Arthur hadn't come to the throne yet--he was hardly Ot's age to begin with, and Yao had ascended not long ago, the adult age of eighteen.

Yao was the perfect tactician, and rapidly grew into his role as the backbone of the kingdom--someone it could not do without. Someone who did what he was supposed to and more. 

Around the time Arthur ascended, so too did Otgonbayar. And Yao ignored it.

Arthur proved to be useful. More than that, he was a companion--someone he could talk to. Arthur was not a strong-feelings sort of person, but he could see the ice over Yao--like a shield.

And he patiently chipped at it, offering time and again to talk with him, to play cards, to have tea together.

And Yao thawed.

It was around this time that he became open to the idea of taking on students--proteges.

It was less a specific feeling than a specific situation that presented itself.

A twelve year old boy came to him--Yong Soo. A boy he would come to know as silly and wreathed in smiles--but at the moment, who was clearly heartsick. Whose eyes spoke of emotional agony and desperation.

His hands bore the callouses of a fighter---especially on the first two knuckles of each hand. And his feet would probably bear callouses as well, if Yao could see them.

The boy bowed deeply to him, having sought a private audience. His hands looked like scared birds, like they might fly away but for his willpower keeping them still. His brown eyes darted around the room, and he sucked on his lower lip.

Yao looked at him. It was a private audience, as Yao had little fear of anyone successfully assassinating him, especially a twelve-year-old boy. He was his own guard. "Speak. What do you want?"

"My--My name is Yong Soo--Im Yong Soo." He barely seemed to hesitate, before he blurted out, "And you're going to help me!"

Yao's eyebrows lifted at this brazen announcement. The boy's eyes conveyed the confidence he was attempting to have, but there was also determination. Something iron among all the nerves fluttering about. "I see. With what?"

Yong Soo continued, voice still bold, "I am trained as a fighter. As a---" he swallowed thickly, but continued on with a new, determined edge to his voice, "As the kind of person who does dirty things as a secret for Kings and Queens."

And Yao knew, despite the poor wording, that he meant things like _assassin_ and _espionage_. Of murder. And that brought him leaning forward in his seat, a sudden concern and anger on behalf of this boy.

This was not a tactic that Spades used. He was definitely not directly one of theirs--his.

"Go on."

Yong Soo nodded, continuing on. "I can be free. I am out. But--they, they have my brother--my _twin_ \--and they sent him to Clubs. He's back now, back reporting, but I can't make--I can't rescue him myself. So--" Yong Soo took a gulping breath, like his courage might leave him, "You're helping me."

Yao rose to his feet, which made Yong Soo startle back into a defensive stance. But he had no intention of attacking Yong Soo. Instead, he felt a fury--the kind that belonged there, in his chest--one that he hadn't felt in the longest time.

"A deal, then," he said, softly, not wanting to betray his rage at the treatment of twelve year old boys, and he didn't understand _why_ he cared so much about this particular boy and his twin, but it was just wrong and it was burning his insides in a way that made him want to fight, "You will tell me all about these people, and I will rescue your brother."

Yong Soo's eyes widened, and he quickly nodded. This one would never be good at espionage, in Yao's opinion. His face was an open book--but that was a good thing, not a flaw. He wasn't so jaded he had a mask.

He wasn't dead inside.

They set out to rescue the twin--a boy by the name of Dai Hyung.

He had no idea the effect this one thing would have on his life.

**Author's Note:**

> Essentially, this is based on an RP, but kinda of pre-. A prequel! But it may go into it...I'm not sure. It just kinda turned out that it wasn't going to be a oneshot, I guess.
> 
> I know probs only my RP partners are interested, but eh.
> 
> (Hi guys! I love you! Hopefully I will update this soon, if y'all like it!)


End file.
